Boring old greeting cards got you down? Check out Postcarden, a series of adorable pop-out postcards that serve as backdrops for edible mini-gardens.

Brought to my attention by Lloyd Alter over at TreeHugger, Postcarden are cute n’ clever gifts/pop-out postcards/mini indoor gardens designed by London’s A Studio for Design. Send one of three Postcarden designs created by three different artists — Allotment (Sophie Burdess), City (Millie Harvey), or Botanical (Krista Nyberg) — to a friend or loved one and all they have to do is assemble the Postcarden, place it in a sunny spot around the house, sow the package of included cress seeds, add water, and voila — an instant, edible mini-garden is born.

But here’s the catch: due to pesky international shipping regulations on importing seeds, Postcarden cannot be shipped outside of the EU. Boo. I had kind of fallen in love.

For our first product we looked at the most universal gift - the greeting card. We felt that this conventional card lacked surprise, bringing only a momentary enjoyment. The arrival of a greeting card or letter in the post can always brighten up your normal mail and bring pleasure but once opened its role becomes commonplace and static.

Our response was Postcarden. It can be sent easily in the post with room to write a personal greeting. Postcarden was created to be more playful, curious and interactive. It encourages you to bond, live and grow the greeting on day by day basis. Over time to card reacts to you and your environment evolving in beauty and charm.

Postcarden is British made. It is printed in Wales by the friendly and dedicated team at Ethical Packaging and the seeds and inner tray are also sourced nationally. We commission and work closely with a variety of talented artists to illustrate the front of each Postcarden, all depicting the inner scene in their own style.

Great stuff. Join the Postcarden mailing list to keep up-to-date on any developments that will allow Postcarden to be shipped outside of the EU. Or just check out the Postcarden gallery and join me in catching a serious case of the "wants but can’t haves."